Development and implementation of the framework for the assessment of river and wetland health (FARWH) - Northern Australia
Project details
| Objective: | To contribute to the evaluation of the FARWH and its relationship to existing State and Territory river health monitoring and assessment programs. |
| Funding: | $1 900 000 plus applicable GST from the Australian Government towards a total project value of $2 980 000. |
| Jurisdiction: | Multi-state |
| Commenced: | June 2008 |
| Completed: | December 2010 |
About the project
This project will facilitate the take up and adoption of a key Australian Water Resources 2005 (AWR 2005) product, by building on the Framework for the Assessment of River and Wetland Health (FARWH) and improve its national applicability. FARWH is a broadscale monitoring framework, which when complete and operational, will have the capacity to accept data from all of the states in Australia and based on that data, provide a statement of ecological status or condition which is comparable across all jurisdictions.
This project in the wet/dry tropics Australia will further trial the FARWH across a range of ecological and geoclimatic environments and against monitoring and assessment programs not tested in previous trials. The project also provides an opportunity to develop a region-wide approach to river health monitoring and reporting in northern Australia that is regionally relevant and provides the information needs required for national reporting of river health under the FARWH. The project will also improve the capacity of staff in each region to undertake river health assessments consistent with the FARWH.
The proponents for this project include:
- the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) consortium
- Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water
- Northern Territory Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts
- Western Australian Department of Water
- eWater CRC from the University of Canberra.
Funding contributions from TRaCK and the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water represent funding already sourced from the Australian Government.
Project benefits
This project will advance the Raising National Water Standards priority for water dependent ecosystems of integrating monitoring processes and systems to assist in enhancing aquatic ecosystem knowledge. The proposal further aligns to the National Water Initiative (NWI), by addressing several NWI objectives. They include:
- Objective (iii) - statutory provision for environmental and other public benefit outcomes, and improved environmental management practices
- Objective (iv) - complete the return of all currently over allocated or overused systems to environmentally sustainable levels of extraction.
The project is also consistent with key recommendations of the NWI Biennial Assessment. Recommendation 1.4 recommends:
- the development of "nationally coordinated actions to improve and harmonise river health and groundwater ecosystem monitoring and assessment to enable the states to incorporate information from this monitoring into their adaptive management frameworks."
The project will also develop a consistent regional approach to river and wetland health assessment for northern Australia's wet/dry tropics, which will be comparable to other river and wetland health assessment programs. This evaluation will also contribute to the development of FARWH's national application.